While the World Cup glory seems to have not changed Harbhajan Singh a wee bit, not making it to the Cup squad seems to have changed Rohit Sharma a lot. Amol Karhadkar reports.

While the World Cup glory seems to have not changed Harbhajan Singh a wee bit, not making it to the Cup squad seems to have changed Rohit Sharma a lot.

It was displayed vividly after Mumbai Indians, thanks to the duo’s heroics, scraped past the defending champions Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday night.

Harbhajan, who picked his maiden five-for in Twenty20, remains as in-your-face as he has ever been. Sharma, on the other hand, seems to have toned down a lot — both in size and in composure. When Harbhajan was asked how it felt to have ended his search for wickets, the off-spinner retorted, “More than me you were in search of wickets! I am happy we won the game and I contributed.”

Grabbed the chanceSharma, who has found it difficult to repeat his domestic and Twenty20 exploits in the ODI arena, however, was subdued when asked if it felt nice that his search for runs was over.

“Everybody knows that I haven’t got many opportunities. I feel good scoring runs,” he said. “It was a big game and I’ve never played in front of a packed house at Wankhede. We needed this win badly. So I am glad it (runs) came at the right time.”

Leaner and fitterAfter his failure with the Indian team, Sharma was last year criticised for having put on weight. However, his efforts on that count are visible as he has become leaner and fitter in the last two months. But he resisted from saying he was making a statement.

“I don’t want to make any statement. I just want to enjoy my cricket. I know that my time and opportunity will come," Sharma said.